Diagnostic Medical Sonographers in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,687
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$15,133
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$74,564
South Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in South Dakota — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$80,820
Kept after tax
$65,687
Worth in national money
$74,564
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Dakota is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $80,820, ranking 46 of 51 states — about 16.33% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Within South Dakota this is well-paid work. Of 457 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 78 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- South Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $80,820 the take-home is $65,687; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $74,564 would nationally. The average lands at $77,220, below the middle of the range.
- South Dakota ranks 46 of 51 for diagnostic medical sonographers, with a median of $80,820 — about 16.33% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Ranked against every occupation South Dakota publishes a median for, diagnostic medical sonographers sits 78 of 457 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Post-tax income for diagnostic medical sonographers in South Dakota, on $80,820, is $65,687 — equivalent to $74,564 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $77,220 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Diagnostic Medical Sonographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,820 |
| Top tenth earn over | $98,090 |
| This salary | $80,820 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in South Dakota | $65,687 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,687 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,967 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $80,820 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$9,624 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $80,820 as a midpoint for South Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $51,100 and the ninetieth is $98,090 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $65,687 take-home in South Dakota comes from $80,820. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 78 of 457.
- Two cautions on $74,564, the adjusted value of that $80,820 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of South Dakota. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 78 of 457 locally.
- The South Dakota median of $80,820 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $51,100 to $98,090. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $65,687, from $80,820, assumes a single South Dakota filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 78 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 46 of 51 for it.
- This $74,564 adjusted figure, worked from $80,820, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 78 of 457 in the state. The occupation ranks 78 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $77,220, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $51,100 and the top tenth $98,090, so most people doing this work in South Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $74,564.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $65,687 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in South Dakota is $77,220. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($51,100 to $98,090) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to South Dakota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
South Dakota's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $74,564 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
South Dakota levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $65,687 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.